The present invention relates to a main connector for an airfoil or wing of an aircraft or of a spacecraft. The connector and the wing are constructed of interconnected metallic and nonmetallic materials.
Wings of fiber reinforced synthetic material and of compound construction are known in the art from German Patent Publications 2,032,283 and 2,109,692. German Patent Publication 2,032,283 discloses a wing structure of tubular individual elements which are manufactured of fiber reinforced synthetic material. The fiber material is made of carbon fibers. The tubular elements are interconnected by means of synthetic material strips which also reinforce the tubular elements.
German Patent Publication 2,109,692 discloses a wind box made by the compound construction manner. The box comprises a shell of fiber reinforced matrix material. The shell is glued together by means of divided metal sectional moldings. The shell made of BFK-material (Boron fibre reinforced composite), the titanium-quartz-sections and the aluminum sectional ribs exhibit a certain layer number ratio to the fiber reinforced matrix material. The just mentioned constructions are intended to make possible the manufacture of aircraft wings of synthetic materials. However, the structural components for connecting the wing to the aircraft body are still much too expensive in the prior art structures and also too heavy in order to have a structure capable of taking up the forces to be transmitted. German Patent Publication 1,781,322 (DAS) discloses a wing structure in which each spar or girder is made of high strength metallic and nonmetallic material layers bonded to each other by adhesives. The spars or girders extend in vertical planes and are shorter and shorter as viewed from the spar or girder foot and in the outward direction so that the result is a beam which has a width diminishing in steps. In this type of prior art structure the nonmetallic material layers are made of fiber mats or webbings impregnated with resin. Each of the individual structural elements is, however, subject to the pressure loads as well as to the tensile loads and also to sheering forces and torsional loads. Thus, this type of conception requires a substantially reinforced structure, whereby the advantages available from fiber compound materials are not utilized in an optimal manner.